Hospice cookbook offers "Plenty to go Around"

A favorite casserole or dish can bring back memories of a loved one or a special occasion in the past. Mothers pass down recipes to their daughters who pass them on to their own, keeping memories and traditions alive for generations.

That’s the premise behind a new cookbook, “Plenty to Go Around” by Gaston Hospice - the food we eat is often a celebration of the people we love.

Emily Craig, the communications director for Gaston Hospice, always thought a cookbook filled with family recipes would be a good project for the organization. So much of life is connected to the food we eat and the love that goes into preparing it.

So she and the Hospice staff asked clients, volunteers and staff members to share both favorite recipes and a story about what made that dish special to them. People answer the call and by the time the book was ready to be printed, it had more than 300 recipes.

“Gathering together around the table has been man’s way of acknowleding his relationship with family, community and Creator since the beginning of time,” Richard Lahm, executive director of Gaston Hospice writes in a forward in the cookbook. “It is no coincidence that daily, when we share a common need to to feed our bodies, we gather together at the table to also feed our spirits by sharing our day’s experiences, our plans for tommorrow and by thanking our Creator for the blessings we have been given.”

The cookbook is divided into sections by categories - appetizers; soups, salads and sandwiches; vegetables, pasta and rice; entrees; and desserts and breads. There’s also a catchall chapter, call “This-n-That.”

Included throughout the book are touching stories written by Craig about people who have been helped by Hospice. There’s Joe Leonhardt who shared his love of gemstones and Arthur Blackwelder who survived both the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of the Midway, and Josette Laney, a native of Marseilles, France, who Craig writes “brings light and laughter to every day.” Many of the profiles by Craig have appeared in Hospice’s newsletter. In words she captures the true spirit of her people.

Family members have also included touching remembrances about loved ones. Sharon Hudalla submitted “ Marly’s Lemon Gelatin Cheesecake” in honor of her mother, Marlys Manahan. “She has carried countless posts of homemade noodles and gallons of her famous sweat tea to church dinners, dozens of freshly baked cookies to new neighbors and hundreds of casseroles to friends in need of comfort,” Hudalla writes.

Delores Ballad Gill shares the story and recipe behind her mother’s Egg Custard Pie. “After the children grew up, mother continued to make egg custard whenever we would return from places around the United States,” Gill writes. “Sometimes she would make four or five egg custards just so each returning child and grandchild would be sure to get at least one piece. Once, as we traveled from California back to North Carolina, mother instructed me to call her as we neared home. Five egg custard pies were already waiting, she said, as she wanted to be sure she was fully prepared.”

Page 2 of 3 - The book also includes the stories of volunteers, some in their own words, including Lynn Leonard. In a 1997 column she wrote for the Hospice newsletter, “The patients’ sharing with me their lives has become one of the biggest blessings I’ve ever experienced. The courage and compassion I’ve seen has made me a different person. Hospice serves when live is at its most precious and precarious stage. They show people how to live while they are dying... how to make the most of the days they have.”

“Plenty to Go Around” includes a full history of the inspiring story of the founding of Gaston Hospice and how it has grown in its 36-year history. It also provides an overview ot the Hospice movement and its mission.

The cookbook would not have been possible, Craig said, without the dedicated support of Sharon Hudalla. In addition to typing up all the recipes, she meticulously went through each one, double checking the ingredients and measurements as well as the preparation instructions. She even drove to the grocery store to double check quantities and sizes listed in the recipes.

The artwork in the cover of the cookbook – a view of Crowders Mountain – is by longtime Hospice supporter and artist Scott Boyle. The artist specializes in outdoor paintings and the original piece of artwork hangs at the Robin Johnson House, the Gaston Hospice inpatient facility, in Dallas.

WANT A COPY?“Plenty to go Around,” which comes with a sturdy hardcover, costs $20 with proceeds benefiting Hospice programs. The book is available at the following locations:

Beat eggs, sugar, cutter and salt together. Pour in the milk and vanilla and mix. Pour mixture into the 2 unbaked pie crusts. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, and then reduce to 350 for another 20 minutes

Submitted by Delores Ballard Gill - February 2013

Page 3 of 3 -

MARLY’S LEMON GELATIN CHEESECAKE

Marlys Manahan

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 Tbs. confectioners’ sugar

½ cup butter, melted

1 (3-ounce) box lemon flavor gelatin

1 cup boiling water

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 (8-ounce) container frozen nondairy whipped topping, thawed.

Stir together cracker crumbs, confectioners’ sugar and butter. Set aside ¼ cup of the mixture and pat remainder in a 13-by-9-inch dish to form crust. Whisk gelatin into boiled water until dissolved. Add cream cheese and vanilla, mix with mixer, on medium speed, until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Pour mixture over crumb crust. Sprinkle reserved crumbs over top. Refrigerate until set, about three hours.